VisitSweden Development Blog

Not long ago two users in CommunityOfSweden.com broke the 1000 point barrier! Wow
That needs to be celebrated!
The points are awarded for activity. Each action taken in CommunityOfSweden.com is worth a set of points and you will only get a certain amount of points each day from any given action. The system is pretty complex but the results are easy to understand;
Lot’s of points = very active community member, and we love those!

 

“Ingalill Snitt is a photographer with a mind of her own, a highly personal way of seeing and selecting motifs. Together with Marita Jonsson she has travelled through Sweden in search of the Swedish soul. Is it to be found in our love of nature? In our sense of form and design? In our architecture? There is no explicit answer, but the pictures speak of a desire for infinite snow-covered expanses, wind-worn cliffs by the sea, bare facades, and pure, simple forms for everyday objects.”

Here are some Questions and Answers with our first recognized superusers!

Tell us why you’re so active in CommunityOfSweden.com?

Darryl: I love meeting people, I love learning new things, and I love networking. And being a member of CommunityOfSweden.com affords me that opportunity. Afterall, it’s all about Sweden the country I live in now.

Susanne: Trough my work I met a lot of people who is working with tourism in Sweden. During the years I have come to the conclusion that it is very much variousity in how different companies and communities showing themself towards the rest of the world and inside Sweden. Especially up north where I come from. That made me curious.. I found the community by an accident, visiting Visit Swedens site and now I cant stop!
I absolutely love the interest among people around the world taking an interest in Sweden. I had no idea the interest was so genuin all over the world! In my work I have the computor on and is logged in the whole day..If I have a minute or two I look at peoples pages and photoes! In my work I have a lot of phonecalls and sometimes they keep me wait..there is a minute again!
Also I started this updating everyday news, I found out that there is several members that is regulary visiting my page every day just to see what I wrote. That is very motivating!

How do you think CommunityOfSweden.com sets itself apart from other online communities?

Darryl: Transparency. That for me is one of the keys to the success of the site. There’s no private area, or a “friends” only section. You can see who was on your page. All the comments, all the photos, all the stories, all the forums, everything is open, and that I find appealling. There’s nothing to hide, so everyone can learn from everyone else. Another key that seperates this site from others, is the fact that the subject matter is very focussed. It’s only about Sweden. It’s not trying to cover the Northern Hemisphere, or the globe, or be all things to all men or women. It’s plain and simply, only about Sweden. That in itself focusses the membership too.

Susanne: The biggest differens between this community and other must be the common interest of sweden and that everyone, almost, has a story to tell, pictures to show or questions to ask. It is Sweden that is the subject.

What’s your favorite feature in CommunityOfSweden.com?

Darryl: My favourite feature is “My Guestbook”. It’s a place where your friends, strangers or new members can write messages to you. It’s good to see notes there and it’s really good to catch up and chat to others, learn new things, teach new things and have a good time.

Susanne: I like the communikation with everyone the most! I have met some really nice people in the community and I wish they all could come and visit me!

What’s your least favorite feature in CommunityOfSweden.com?

Darryl: My least favourite feature is “I was here”. Not because it doesn’t function well, not because of where it’s positioned on the page, and not because of the colours. But because on mine, there aren’t a lot of flags yet, not a lot of places visited, not a lot of places seen. The entire North of Sweden is empty. Then I look at some of my friend’s “I was here” map, and they have flags all over the place. You can hardly see any blue. So I don’t like the feature because, every time I look at it, it reminds me of how much of Sweden I have missed out on still, and how much I still have to see. And that it’s about time we booked that elusive trip to Kiruna.

Susanne: I am not a regular in the forumpage..I like to go in and read there sometimes but compared to talk directly on the front page feels more alive. Also I must admit that I havent yet taken the time to understand the newest sharingconcept..

Do you have a favorite memory during your time in CommunityOfSweden.com that you can share with us?

Darryl: My favourite memory was the day a friend of mine, who shall remane nameless, changed her profile picture from a beautiful, slender lady sitting on a couch, to a flower, and then to an alligator lying on a river bank. She said it had something to do with marketing, and sending out a message. I think it worked. It’s really funny though.

Susanne: I sure have! The best one is the one who includes one of the members in the community from Italy who was sending me a note that he was searching for a family who lived in Luleå in 1979! He was hichhiking towards the midnightsun in Norway and was picked up by this family and got a lift all the way and an invitation to spend a night on his trip down through Sweden later on. He did and stayed for a week. But then during the years he lost contact with the family and asked if I had any way to search for the family.. I took my detectiveglasses on and acually found the family!! I called the lady the same day and explained who I was and my mission. This now elderly woman was so happy that she started crying, they had thought of this young man several times during the years and she told me that when they was picking him up that day in - 79 he was searching for snails to eat in the ditch! They now have contact again and she has even valled me up on the phone thanking me again for bringing them together!
Right now Ive become involed in a family from argentina who is seriously thinking of moving to Lycksele who is a town not so far from Umeå. Also nice to be able to help!

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Darryl: I like the site because the tone set by our captain (Tommy), is very friendly and sociable. When you start your profile, he’s always there, with a message, to welcome you to the community, and that sets the tone for open and friendly communication. He’s also very open for suggestions and comments on how to improve, what is already a great site. That for me, makes this site and this community, truly remarkeable.

Susanne: I sure hope the community will live on and the numbers of members will grow as it has so far. Right now I wish I could somehow transform it into a real job! That would be great, having a nonstop communication with people around the world who is taking interest of my country! Wow!

Thanks for the kind words there Darryl
The forum will get some improvements in the near future so I hope Susanne will start to use it more frequently.

As I always say; a community is only as good as it’s members.
By the looks of it we’re in good shape!

Share This, thank you.